Ordering Up an Obscure Czech Wine

Long Known as a Haven for Lager Lovers, Prague Is Cultivating the Vino Crowd With New Bars and Events

ENLARGE

Prague
Milan Jaros for The Wall Street Journal

By

Evan Rail

Updated Jan. 21, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

Like many pubs in Prague's historic Malá Strana district, the bar at 8 Míšeňská Lane has the dark and moody vibe of a traditional Bohemian tavern. Out front are the neighborhood's de rigueur cobblestones, romantic plaster façades and curlicued streetlamps; inside are arched ceilings and chalkboards listing the drink specials. But beyond the lounge soundtrack and younger clientele, there is one other significant variation from the norm: the bar, Vinograf, doesn't have a single Czech beer listed on its menu. Instead, it focuses on the Czech Republic's wines, featuring a who's who of the country's most obscure winemakers, as well as quality imports.

"It's changing," said the bar's manager, Klára Kollárová, who, at 33 years old, comes off as a grande dame in the youthful new world of Czech sommeliers. "It's an evolution in Czech wine."

Though the area's wine history dates back centuries, if not millennia, it is only in the past 10 years or so that the Czech Republic's winemakers have found the plus side of their region's capricious weather, stony soils and limited production, creating charismatic wines through the use of modern techniques and know-how that only became available after the fall of communism. While the French-educated, Prague-based Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV might have ordered the local planting of his favored Pinot Noir grapes in the mid-14th century, the region seemed a long way from Burgundy in the early 1990s, producing wines that often ranged from bland to astringent, with very little middle ground. Even today, the development of Czech wine seems far before its peak. As Ms. Kollárová put it: "The winemakers are still learning how to make the wines."

The evolution of regional wines doesn't exactly leave the Czech Republic's well-regarded brewers still swinging in the vines and huddling in caves: with its world-beating annual consumption per capita, beer is likely to remain the country's preferred tipple for years to come. But look carefully in the Czech capital and you'll find a pronounced new interest and heightened appreciation for fine vino, with a new generation of wine bars, as well as well-stocked wine shops and improved restaurant wine lists. And at the end of the month, the third annual Prague Wine Week (www.praguewine.cz) will bring a number of tastings, pairing menus and meet-the-vintner events to various locations in the city.

Much like the country's now well-regarded Skoda automobiles, a unit of Volkswagen AG, wine here has come a long way in the two decades since the Velvet Revolution. Located just across the border from Austria's Weinviertel, the Czech Republic's South Moravian wine region uses many of the same varietals as its neighbors, and occasionally bests them in the process: at the Vinalies Internationales competition in Paris last year, bottles from the Czech Republic picked up a total of nine gold medals, while Austrian wines earned just seven. Not that you'd hear much about it. Czech vintners produce so little—as few as 1,000 bottles a year—that nearly all of their best wines are consumed locally, leaving their praises largely unsung outside the country's borders, and limited even in Prague.

For an overview of great Czech vintages, tiny Vinograf (www.vinograf.cz) is the best place to start, provided you can find a place at one of its 20 or so seats. (A larger restored wine cellar, dating from the building's construction in 1725, is also available for special events.) Beyond a handful of imports, the list includes about 180 domestic bottles, many of which are almost impossible to find anywhere else.

Trip Planner

Where to stay

Located in the Malá Strana district, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel has 99 modern rooms and suites built on the premises of a Gothic-era monastery; some of the building's 13th-century foundations are visible in the beautifully restored wine cellar. Double rooms from €255.

Tel: 420 233 088 888

Where to eat

A long-term local favorite, the city's Alcron hotel, now part of the Radisson Blu chain, is home to two first-rate restaurants, Alcron and La Rotonde, backed up by one of the city's best wine lists. At Alcron, a seven-course tasting menu, including wild duck consommé with truffle crème brûlée and olive-oil-poached halibut, is 1,890 korun.

Tel: 420 222 820 038

It is difficult to exaggerate the charms of La Finestra in Cucina, an Italian-owned trattoria that appears to have been lifted up from Milan and moved to Prague's Old Town. The steaks, cutlets and saltimbocca are matched by a spectacular wine list—but one which is almost exclusively limited to Italian bottles, barring the rare Sauvignon Blanc from a skilled local producer such as Sonberk. An extremely tender and juicy, slow-cooked pork neck, served with pear purée, is 485 korun.

Tel: 420 222 325 325

Where to shop

You are unlikely to find a better selection of obscure Moravian winemakers than at Vinotéka Pod klenbou, a small storefront with a surprisingly large cellar and a smartly opinionated sales staff.

The biggest challenge for outsiders is the language. For English speakers, the proper German pronunciation of Grüner Veltliner is enough of a struggle; recognizing Veltlínské zelené as the same grape might be one statue-studded bridge too far. However, many sommeliers here, like Ms. Kollárová, are happy to translate and explain.

Given the latitude and climate, the palatability of some of the reds might come as a surprise. Ms. Kollárová recommended winemaker Lubomír Glos's Cabernet Moravia, a grape bred from Cabernet Franc and Zweigelt (known here as Zweigeltrebe). Reserved, even somewhat austere, it had a pleasant spiciness, with notes of green pepper in the nose, and it seemed like a good pairing for one of the country's hearty game dishes. Though the red wines can be drinkable, dry whites are where Czech vintners really come into their own. At Vinograf, a 2009 late-harvest Veltlínské Zelené from Moravia's Zdeněk Peřina (299 korun, about €12, per bottle) revealed elegant layers of melon and stone fruit; a Müller-Thurgau from Žernosecké vinařství (240 korun per bottle) displayed graceful citrus and evergreen notes.

Other new wine bars in the city keep up Vinograf's theme of limited space, though few take it to such an extreme as the Wine Bar (thewinebar.cz), with just 14 seats, a number that nearly doubles with a few sidewalk tables in warmer weather. Narrow, intimate and cutely decorated with old phonographs, books, suitcases and other charismatic bric-a-brac, the Wine Bar's list is far more limited but much easier to navigate, with just about 16 Czech whites and a dozen reds. Frankovka grapes, known elsewhere as Blaufränkisch, often result in coarse or thin reds, but the Wine Bar serves a lovely rosé version from cult favorite František Mádl: light and refreshing, perfect for the summer, with the sweet-meets-citrus taste of seared oranges.

Because of their limited production and distribution, you aren't likely to find good local bottles to take home outside of a specialist shop. The best store for artisanal Moravian producers might be Vinotéka Pod klenbou (www.podklenbou.cz), located about a block from the Náměstí Republiky metro station. Bottles of good dry whites, like the 2008 late harvest Veltlínské zelené from Vinařství Kovacs, winner of silver medal at the AWC Vienna International Wine Challenge, start at around 220 korun.

Still, the best way to sip in Prague's new wine scene is at one of the modern wine bars, like the cool Bokovka (bokovka.com), opened in 2006 by a group that includes film director Jan Hřebejk ("Up and Down," "Cosy Dens") and art photographer Tono Stano. Stylishly decorated in muted olive green and dark woods, the bar has cozy banquettes that are perfect for drinking things in over a glass. In a nod to expanding local tastes as well as budgets, the list includes a few Bordeaux Prémier Cru and high-end Tuscan wines, as well as well-regarded domestic producers like Nové Vinařství, Sonberk and Vino Marcinčák, maker of the bar's house wines.

With a name lifted from the local title of the well-soaked wine film "Sideways," Bokovka would seem to inspire excess, though the artsy crowd here is perhaps too cool and cerebral to take the term literally. Still, with Marcinčák's flinty and mineral 2009 Rulandské bilé, or Pinot Blanc, priced at just 390 korun, you could be forgiven for ordering another bottle. Outside of the country, you're unlikely to find it again.

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